Imperial Gothic
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Religious Architecture and High Anglican Culture in the British Empire, 1840-1870
G. A. Bremner
Price: $65.00
The Gothic Revival movement in architecture was intimately entwined with 18th- and 19th-century British cultural politics. By the middle of the 19th century, architects and theorists had transformed the movement into a serious scholarly endeavor, connecting it to notions of propriety and “truth,” particularly in the domain of religious architecture. Simultaneously, reform within the Church of England had worked to widen the aesthetic and liturgical appeal of “correct” gothic forms. Coinciding with these developments, both architectural and religious, was the continued expansion of Britain’s empire, including a renewed urgency by the English Church to extend its mission beyond the British Isles.
In this groundbreaking new study, G. A. Bremner traces the global reach and influence of the Gothic Revival throughout Britain’s empire during these crucial decades. Focusing on religious buildings, he examines the reinvigoration of the Church of England’s colonial and missionary agenda and its relationship to the rise of Anglican ecclesiology, revealing the extraordinary nature and extent of building activity that occurred across the British world.
Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
G. A. Bremner is senior lecturer in architectural history at the University of Edinburgh.
“Alex Bremner is a young architectural historian who has already made a name for himself in Gothic-revival circles for his boundless energy – articles, conferences, symposia, prizes – and with this impressive first book he is launched as a major scholar. He describes the spread of the 'true' Puginite Gothic revival across almost the whole of the world at the hands of dedicated Tractarians and ecclesiologists with illustrations by many wonderful new photographs and contemporary views.”—Timothy Brittain-Catlin, The Tablet
“Although wide in scope and rich in scholarly detail, Bremner remains focused and easy to follow in his arguments. By considering the unique cultural context for each religious building, he sets a model for future scholarship in this field and demonstrates that the ideas behind the Gothic Revival Movement were not simply adapted or diluted for imperial export, but were actively developed across the globe.”—Francesca Herrick, Burlington Magazine
“He brings a great quantity of new information, and a magnificent collection of illustrations to illuminate it.”—Peter Howell, The Art Newspaper
“This splendid work superbly illustrates and describes churches created in the cause of global Anglicanism. ‘Groundbreaking book’ is an over-used term, but that it what this is: a beautiful reminder of the high-minded aspirations of what was once considered to be not an ignoble undertaking.”—James Stevens Curl, Times Higher Education Supplement
“It’s a high quality publication with the usual Yale flair for design and illustration, its sheer bulk is impressive at nearly 500 pages, and its tightly focused chapters lucidly reveal the global Gothic Revival over a brief but important span of Victorian decades. This is, however, not what makes it a great book. Its real achievement is in its insistence that British architectural research must change if it is to truly revolutionise understandings of globalised modern cultures and their interaction. Showing how colonial architecture is both a ‘symbol and mechanism for societal identity’, Bremner’s intricate research uncovers dynamics of architectural design and religious patronage within the smallest outpost and the most ambitious of cathedrals.”—Architectural Review
“Bremner’s Imperial Gothic provides a most substantial enrichment to our knowledge of early and mid-Victorian church architecture.”—Stefan Muthesius, The Victorian
Publication Date: June 25, 2013
Publishing Partner: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
80 color + 285 b/w illus.